


hey honey you could be my drug (...all this trash talk make me itchin')

by sylviewashere



Series: bemily week [6]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bemily Week, But in that zone, Competing A Capella Groups AU, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, not really enemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 13:15:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14021034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylviewashere/pseuds/sylviewashere
Summary: free choice for bemily week!There's a new a capella group on campus, and they're the Bellas main competition for Nationals. It'd be easier for Beca to hate them if their captain wasn't so cute.





	hey honey you could be my drug (...all this trash talk make me itchin')

“Ladies, we have a problem.” Chloe burst into the house. 

“Other than the fact that we have no new Bellas this year?” Stacie asked. 

It was their junior year (or Chloe’s second time failing Russian Lit), and while the Bellas had won Nationals twice in a row. Chloe was determined to keep their streak going this year, so auditions had been especially brutal, and they only ended up recruiting Flo. Many girls auditioned, but the combination of Chloe’s obsession with making the Bellas everyone’s top priority and Beca’s bluntness during their auditions drove a lot of them away. Not that they lacked skill, but they knew it wasn’t great to have such little success with recruitment. 

“It’s related to that,” Chloe explained. “Guys, there’s a new a capella group on campus.” 

No one responded. 

“Why is this a problem, Chlo?” Beca asked. It’s not like they weren’t used to having competition. 

“They’re a whole new group, we don’t know what we’re up against! They have a gig this Saturday at Theta. We’re going.” 

Groans erupted from the room. Beca sighed and stood up. She pulled Chloe aside. 

“Do you really think we need to scope them out?” Beca asked. 

“Yes,” Chloe said firmly, determination in her eyes. “I’ve heard that they’re made up mainly of people who were rejected from auditions.” 

“So they’re probably not that good, right?” Beca’s voice sounded hopeful. 

“Not necessarily. Competition was rough this year, Beca. There were so many people auditioning, and a really small amount of spots. That’s why we have to go see them. We have to find out if they’re something to worry about.” 

Beca thought for a moment. She trusted Chloe’s judgement, so she turned back towards the rest of the Bellas. 

“Alright, nerds. We’re going to Theta this weekend.” Overlapping voices started complaining until Beca cut them off. “Hey! It’s only for like an hour, and Chloe’s right. We need to scope out the competition.”

* * *

 

The Bellas were mingling with the sorority girls while they waited for the new group to start performing. Beca was talking to Flo about class when an arm tugged Beca violently to the side. “Ouch, fuck!” 

“Sorry, Becs,” Chloe apologized. “But they’re starting. Come to the front with me.” 

Not like Beca had a choice, Chloe practically dragged her to the front of the small crowd.  _ The joys of being a captain.  _

The new group stepped out, and Beca wasn’t very impressed. Most of the groups tended to stick to a uniform, but it looked like this group was just wearing normal clothes. They looked like they tried to match, but a couple of people either missed the memo or were colorblind. Beca scoffed. Why was Chloe even worried about these scrubs?

The noise of the crowd simmered down as a tall brunette cleared her throat, getting a few people’s attention. Beca eyed her carefully. This must be the leader of the new group. Besides her height - Beca swears her legs went on for  _ miles -  _ she didn’t seem very intimidating. She had a nervous smile on her face and her deep brown eyes felt warm and inviting. Not that Beca was staring. Once everyone was fairly quiet, she spoke. 

“Hey guys! Thank you so much for coming out today, and a special thanks to Kappa Alpha Theta for hosting our first gig at Barden!” A bit of applause and a couple of shouts rang out from the crowd. “I won’t make you wait any longer, so let’s get started. We are Syncopation!” 

“That’s a lame name,” Chloe whispered to Beca. “It’s just a music term, not even a stupid pun. They probably threw it together last night.” 

Beca shushed Chloe as the leader played a note on the pitch pipe. The co-captains were ready to be unimpressed, ready to brush of Syncopation into the same category as the High Notes and BU Harmonics. 

The Bella captains initially thought they were average. Definitely not bad, but nothing that the Bellas couldn’t beat in Nationals. The song wasn’t anything particularly unique either, The Treblemakers had performed Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself themselves recently.

Then, the leader started her solo. 

This girl could  _ sing.  _

Beca and Chloe probably looked stupid as hell, because both of their jaws dropped. Chloe’s initial shock faded quickly, jaw clenched and a competitive fire lighting in her eyes. On the other hand, Beca was  _ entranced.  _ Syncopation performed a few other songs, and in every one of them, Beca couldn’t keep her eyes off of the captain. Maybe she was just imagining things, but she swears at some point the tall brunette threw her a wink. 

Afterwards, people were going up to the group, saying how good they were, asking if they were going to compete in Nationals. Chloe pulled Beca along, signaling that it was time for them to go. They were stopped in their tracks when someone bumped into Beca. 

“Oops, I’m so sorry! That was my bad.” 

Beca tried to shrug it off, but then she looked up and noticed who it was. The cute Syncopation captain. “It’s fine, sorry. It’d be easier to navigate if someone wasn’t dragging me.” 

Chloe elbowed Beca’s side. “You guys were really good.” Even when Chloe was ready to go home and strategize how to beat Syncopation, she would never not be polite. “Me and Beca here are - ”

“The Barden Bellas captains, yeah I know. You guys are super rad. I guess I’m sort of the captain of Syncopation. I’m Emily Junk.” Emily held out her hand. Chloe was just staring at her, gears in her head obviously turning, so Beca shook her hand. 

“Your hands are like super soft, dude.”  _ Shit, did I say that outloud?  _ Emily’s confused smile answered Beca’s thoughts. 

Chloe’s eyes widened, realization hitting her. “Emily Junk. Junk. Like,  _ the _ Junk?” 

“Are you broken? You’re saying Junk way too much, Chlo.” Beca commented, not quite sure what Chloe was getting at. 

“Emily Junk. Captain of Syncopation. Junk.”

“Yup, she’s broken.” 

“Oh my god, your mom is Katherine Junk.” 

Emily sighed, obviously not happy with Chloe’s discovery. “Yep. Katherine Junk is my mom.” 

“Should I know who that is?” Beca asked, eyes darting between Chloe and Emily. 

“Katherine Junk pioneered the syncopated booty shake. When she was a  _ Barden Bella.”  _ Chloe narrowed her eyes at Emily. 

“Yep, I’m a Bella Legacy.” Emily shifted awkwardly. 

Beca had another question, but Chloe quickly wrapped up the conversation. “Well, it was nice talking to you, Emily. We’ve gotta go rehearse though. See you at the Riff-Off!” 

Walking back to the house, Beca pulled Chloe aside from her conversation with Stacie. “Hey, Chloe, I know you have some new vendetta against Syncopation, but why all the evil glares at Emily? She seems nice, and you have to admit she’s good.” 

“She’s a Bella Legacy, and she didn’t even audition? I’d understand if she just didn’t want to do a capella at all, but starting another group?  _ She’s  _ the one with some kind of personal vendetta against the Bellas. I’m sure of it.” 

Over the next couple of weeks, Chloe was strategizing non-stop, working everyone almost as hard as Aubrey did (okay, that was a stretch, but it still seemed endless). Beca couldn’t handle Chloe’s intensity, so she let her cover everything else, while Beca set to work on creating setlists for them. Syncopation wasn’t going to stop them from winning Nationals. 

Not even if Beca couldn’t get their captain out of her mind. She was just strategizing. Gotta think about someone to figure out how to beat them, right?

* * *

 

“In a surprise upset for the Nationals champion team the Barden Bellas, the winners of this year’s riff-off are the underdogs, the new kids on the block, Syncopation!”

Roars of cheering echoed around the empty pool. Beca looked at Chloe, who was clearly trying to stay composed. The ginger started walking away, unusually silent. The rest of the Bellas started following her, but Beca grabbed Stacie before she could catch up to the others. “Hey, come with me for a second.”

“Where are we going?” 

“Chloe’s clearly pissed, and I don’t want to hear her complaining. Maybe we can go intimidate Syncopation a little bit. It’ll make Chloe feel better if she at least knows we accomplished something.”

Stacie nodded in understanding. Beca struggled to keep up with Stacie’s stride while they walked over to the crowd of people. On the edge of the crowd, Emily was sighing deeply. Although there was a huge smile on her face, it was clear the mass of people was exhausting her. Brown eyes lit up at the sight of Beca approaching. 

“Hey, Beca! And you’re Stacie, right? Oh my gosh, you guys were so good. I don’t know how we won, honestly. I didn’t even really understand the rules until like, two days ago.” Beca immediately felt bad about this plan. Emily was clearly just an eager newbie who was happy to be included. But she had to at least  _ try  _ to throw her off her game a little. 

“Oh, yeah? Well don’t get too cocky.” Stacie’s comment caused Emily to furrow her eyebrows. “The riff-off is nothing compared to Nationals. We don’t even take these party games seriously, right Beca?” 

“Nope. So no matter how amazing and talented you might be, it won’t even matter that you absolutely destroyed us tonight.” 

Stacie placed a hand on Beca’s shoulder. A hand that obviously meant, _please_ _let me do the trash talking._

“Oh, well, we’re honestly just kind of doing this for fun. I didn’t want Syncopation to be super competitive,” Emily explained. 

“That was obvious,” Stacie deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Hey, we’re just here to sing and have fun. I don’t want to start something.” Emily put her hands up. 

“Too bad, gorgeous, something’s been started!” Beca’s voice got higher. “We’ll see you talented losers at Regionals. If you’re not too scared to show your pretty face, Emily.” 

“Pretty face?” Emily raised an eyebrow. 

Before Beca could embarrass herself anymore, Stacie dragged her away, leading her back to the Bella house. Once they were there, Chloe was instantly on them, asking where they had gone. Beca explained that they stayed back to try to intimidate Syncopation. 

“It went okay, except for the fact that Beca was straight up flirting with Junk.” Stacie rolled her eyes. 

“Flirting?” Beca looked offended. “I was trash talking. You know, getting in her head.” 

Stacie rolled her eyes.

“Whatever it was, just keep your eyes on the prize, Beca,” Chloe said.

* * *

 

As much as Beca knew she shouldn’t get too friendly with the competition - she definitely didn’t want a repeat of the drama from her freshman year - Emily was making it pretty difficult. Apparently, Beca’s trash talking hadn’t scared the captain at all. 

After Regionals, which ended up with both the Bellas and Syncopation moving on to the next round (The Bellas won, which Chloe was ecstatic about), Emily approached Beca while they were leaving. 

“Hey, you guys were awesome, as usual.” 

“Thanks. Congrats on moving on to semifinals, by the way,” Beca said genuinely. Something about Emily made Beca forget the competition altogether.  She glanced around, but the Bellas had all gone ahead of her. Beca didn’t want Chloe to interrupt their conversation. 

Not like Beca cared about being friendly with Emily or anything.  They were competitors.

“You’re not going to say how shocked you are or something?” Emily sounded a little surprised, which upset Beca for a reason she couldn’t quite place. 

“No, you’re really good. But I was wondering about something.” 

“Yeah?” 

“You didn’t audition at all. I would’ve remembered hearing your amazing voice at auditions. Why weren’t you there if you’re a Legacy?” Beca asked. 

“I dunno.” Emily sighed, searching for an answer. “I like a capella, I grew up on it. But something about joining the Bellas seemed weird to me. My mom was a little disappointed, but like I said, I didn’t really want to compete. Just sing for fun.” 

“Then why are you competing at all?” 

“Peer pressure, for one thing. A lot of the members of Syncopation were rejected by other groups, so they want to prove themselves.” Beca nodded. “And I guess partially because of you. And the Bellas.” 

The addition of the Bellas seemed like an afterthought. Beca noticed and looked at Emily for an explanation. Emily bit her lip. 

“You’re like, super inspiring and super good at what you do. I admire that, I wanted to channel some of that.” Emily said it so simply, like Beca should obviously know all of this. They stared at each other for a few seconds, brown eyes searching blue ones for any sort of apprehension at what she said. Feeling daring, Emily added. “Also, I wanted to see if you’d try to insult me again and just end up complimenting me. It was adorable.”  

Beca opened her mouth to insist that she  _ wasn’t  _ cute, she was  _ badass _ . But people were calling Emily’s name, so she said a quick goodbye to Beca and dashed away. Beca watched her talk to the Syncopation members, some of them glancing over at Beca. The Bella captain was about to leave, but suddenly Emily was jogging back over to her, a marker in her hand. 

“Emily?” 

“Wait. Before you go.” Emily uncapped the marker with her teeth, grabbed Beca’s arm, and scribbled something on it. “You don’t have to use this. But I’d like it if you texted me sometime. To, uh, share tips on setlists. Yeah.” 

Beca could’ve easily stopped Emily from writing her number on her arm. She could’ve explained how they were supposed to be competing  _ against  _ each other. But she didn’t. Emily’s hopeful smile basically eliminated that possibility. 

“Yeah, yeah. I could totally do that. I guess I’ll see you at semifinals?” Beca said. 

“Yep, see you there.” 

Beca watched Emily walk away, before glancing at her arm. 

She hoped that her heart would stop beating so fast before she got home.

* * *

 

“Ooo, Becs. Is that what took you so long? You got some cutie’s number?” Chloe didn’t waste any time asking Beca about the writing on her arm.

“Uh, yeah.” 

“Who is she? Have I seen her before?” 

“You could say that.” 

“What does she look like?” 

Beca figured that it would be easier to address this now than to save it for later. She sighed and mumbled, “It’s Emily Junk.” 

“WHAT?”

“Shut up! Not all of the Bellas need to know!” 

“Why do you have her number?” Chloe shout-whispered. 

“She gave it to me.” 

“So, what? Are you going to date our enemies?” Chloe was sounding more exasperated by the second. 

“I didn’t even say I was going to do anything with the number.” 

“Stacie said you were flirting with her! You at least have to admit you’re attracted to her.” 

Beca sucked in a breath. 

“Look, just because we’re competing against Syncopation doesn’t mean anything about Emily. I know she’s their captain, but she told me herself that she’s doing this for fun. No weird grudge against the Bellas or anything. She’s really nice and sweet and smells like cookies, so don’t make this about her.” 

Chloe was surprised at how defensive Beca got. Honestly, so was Beca. The ginger paced for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to her best friend. Beca waited patiently; she knew that Chloe was at conflict with her want to support Beca and her goal of winning Nationals with no speed bumps along the way. Finally, she turned back to Beca. 

“If you really like this girl, I support you. I always will. But just  _ promise _ it won’t affect how you perform.” 

“Of course, Chloe. I know how important this is to you. I didn’t let Jesse come before the Bellas before. I wouldn’t do the same now. I promise.” 

Chloe smiled slowly. “Thank you. I was being stupid. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” 

“I trust your judgement. Besides, she is  _ super  _ cute. You should totally go for it.”

* * *

 

**beca:** hey it’s beca

**beca:** like from the bellas 

**emily:** Oh, hi Beca! I didn’t think you’d actually text me haha :) 

**beca:** yeah it’s just that there’s a party that the trebles are throwing tonight. It’s a capella only and i didn’t know if you guys knew it was happening or not but i thought you might wanna know 

**beca:** you don’t have to come but i thought you should know 

**emily:** That sounds fun! I don’t know about the rest of the gang but I’ll definitely be there! 

**emily:** Thanks for letting me know :) <3

* * *

 

The Treble’s parties were always an event. Even though Beca wasn’t exactly the most comfortable at parties, but watching all the a capella nerds get shitfaced was at least entertaining. Also, free alcohol. 

From her position sitting at the minibar, Beca easily picked out a certain someone from the crowd. She felt a little more confident (probably thanks to the drinks), so she waved Emily over to her. The younger girl bounced over, her face a little flushed. 

“Hey! Oh my gosh, this is so awesome. Thank you so much for inviting me!” Emily said with a grin. 

“If you’re going to be a proper a capella group, you’ve gotta get with the traditions,” Beca stated, leaning closer so she could hear Emily better over the thumping music and people singing (badly). “Besides, I wanted to text you eventually anyway.”

“Aw, you’re so cute!” Emily gave Beca a half hug. Beca noticed that Emily was very physically affectionate when she was drunk. She wasn’t complaining at all. Emily pulled back from the hug, but she kept her arms slung around Beca’s shoulders. 

“You know, most people know better than to call me cute.” 

“Hmm? Why’s that?” Emily tilted her head. 

Beca subconsciously parted her legs a little, allowing Emily to step in between them. Beca was feeling bold. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe just the new confidence from knowing she didn’t have to treat Emily like the enemy anymore, so she placed her hand on Emily’s hips. 

“I’m kind of a badass, if you haven’t noticed.” Beca shrugged casually. 

“Oh really?” 

“Mhmm.” 

“You’d think someone so  _ badass  _ would be able to trash talk well. And you wouldn’t have called me  _ talented  _ and  _ pretty  _ and  _ gorgeous _ .” 

With each emphasized word, Emily’s face got closer and closer to Beca’s. Beca’s eyes darted to Emily’s lips. She leaned forward and Emily was centimeters away and - 

“Shit!” 

Beca was drenched in beer. Emily jumped back, as Beca shook her shirt out the best she could. One of the High Notes was standing there, cup empty and face terrified. Beca hopped down from the stool and grabbed the boy by his shirt. 

“I swear to god dude, not only did you ruin my shirt, but you ruined what was about to be a totally awesome kiss. I’m gonna - ” Suddenly, she was yanked back by the hood of her jacket.  

“Beca, no. Let’s just go get you cleaned up.” 

Even drunk, Chloe was ready to be the mama bear. Beca backed down, shooting another glare at the boy before slinking off. Chloe let Beca go when Emily approached them again. 

“Hi, Chloe.” 

“Nice to see you again, Emily.” 

Beca shifted awkwardly, afraid of what Chloe was going to say. 

“Beca, I’m so sorry that your shirt got ruined.” 

“It’s not your fault, Emily. But I do think I’m going to go home and change.” 

“Oh, okay.” Emily looked disappointed. 

Beca added quickly. “But I’ll text you later?” Emily’s face lit up again, and she nodded eagerly. 

“And by the way, I totally believe that you’re a badass now.” Beca swelled with pride. 

Chloe smiled at the two giving each other heart eyes. But, she quickly commented. “As Beca’s best friend, I’m obligated to tell you that if you break her heart, I’ll break your spine.” Emily’s eyes widened. 

“Woah-kay, simmer down there.” Beca covered Chloe’s mouth with her hand. “She won’t actually do that.” 

Emily laughed nervously. “Message received anyway. I’ll catch you later, Beca.” 

Emily went to join her friends and Beca released Chloe’s face with a glare. There was a grin on her face when Beca did. 

“You like her  _ so _ much.” 

“Do I need to cover your mouth again?”

* * *

 

Semifinals came and went quickly, the Bellas moving on to Nationals. Syncopation, however, did not. Chloe was shouting about their victory at the top of her lungs - as far as she was concerned, making it to Nationals was a feat in itself. 

Beca approached Emily, saying how the judges were just assholes, but Emily reminded Beca that personally, she didn’t actually care. 

“I’m just so glad that you guys are going to Nationals again!” Emily hugged Beca tight. 

“I mean, yeah, it’s pretty great isn’t it?” 

Emily pulled back slightly, her fingers threading through Beca’s hair. “Pretty great? It’s amazing. You deserve it. You guys have been working so hard that I haven’t gotten to see you at all.” 

“I know. Do you wanna hang out tonight? The others are probably going out to celebrate, but I have some studying to do. That sounds boring, but I just want to spend time with you that isn’t in an a capella related setting.” 

“I think I’d like that.”

* * *

 

**emily:** Hey, I’m at the house! Let me in?

**beca:** be down in a sec! 

Beca opened the door and instantly, Emily was capturing her lips. Beca instantly melted, kicking the door shut and backing Emily up against it. Emily’s fingers stroked Beca’s cheeks. Beca’s hands found their way under Emily’s shirt, groaning into the kiss when she felt Emily’s toned stomach flex at her touch. The younger girl backed away first, her hands still cupping Beca’s cheeks. 

“Not that I’m complaining at all, because I mean  _ wow.  _ But why so eager, Em?” 

Emily suddenly looked bashful, which was in such contrast to her confidence a moment ago. “I dunno. I have a lot of adrenaline from performing earlier. Plus, I didn’t want to get interrupted again. Thought you deserved to get that  _ totally awesome  _ kiss.” 

“That’s fair.” 

Beca showed her around the Bella house, and then finally led her to the living room where she was working. Emily was content to help Beca study, quizzing her on terms. But Beca kept getting distracted just observing Emily’s mannerisms. The way she pursed her lips when she was thinking, how she tended to chew on the end of pens, the way her eyes lit up when Beca would answer something right. 

“Beca?” 

“Huh?” 

“I asked you to talk about the history of Jazz. Pay attention, silly.” 

“I’m trying.” 

“What’s on your mind?” 

Beca’s first instinct was to say ‘you’, but she opted to not place herself in the middle of a romcom. “Nothing in particular. Just that I’m glad we got some quiet time together I guess.” 

Emily smiled. “I’m glad too. Like, I can’t believe you even texted me that first time. I honestly thought I might be going crazy thinking you were flirting. But my friends all said that I was being oblivious.” 

“Honestly? I didn’t even know I was flirting. I thought I was just terrible at insulting people.” Emily chuckled. 

They studied for a little bit longer, but eventually they were just laying on the couch, Beca tucked into Emily’s front working on the Nationals setlist. Emily was scrolling through her phone over Beca, her head tucked into Beca’s shoulder. Occasionally, Emily would place a peck on Beca’s neck. 

Beca liked this. She liked how easily the two of them seemed to adapt to each other, and how Emily didn’t mind sitting in silence with her. Emily sometimes asked Beca about her song choices, always agreeing with Beca’s reasoning. She gave a few suggestions here and there as well. Beca closed her laptop once it was finished and sighed happily. Emily bumped their heads together, and Beca chuckled. 

“Hey, Emily?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Is this technically a first date?” 

“Hm, I guess it kind of is. Unless you count competing against each other or getting beer spilled on you as romantic activities. Maybe the Trebles party  _ was  _ a date. Just short lived. Why, do you not want it to be?” Insecurity creeped into Emily’s voice. Beca doesn’t know how Emily isn’t fully aware that Beca definitely is so into her by now. 

“No, I definitely want it to be,” Beca said. She chewed on her lip. “Em?”

“Beca?” 

“Do you wanna...actually nevermind.” 

“No,” Emily nipped at Beca’s neck, causing her to gasp. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.” 

“It’s dumb, nevermind. It’s too soon.” 

“I’m sure it’s not dumb.” 

Beca sighed and finally mumbled under her breath, almost as if she was afraid of Emily hearing her. “Will you be my girlfriend?” 

Beca yelped as she was suddenly shifted around so she was sitting in Emily’s lap, facing the younger girl. Emily was grinning from ear to ear. 

“Absolutely, yes.” 


End file.
